The $117 million makeover of the 71/91 interchange in west Corona might be finally built. Friday rush hour traffic streaks along the eastbound 91, horizontal center. The curved northbound 71 entrance from the 91 intersects on April 13, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Artist's rendering of the 71/91 interchange makeover, with a new flyover ramp from eastbound 91 to the northbound 71. (Photo courtesy of Riverside County Transportation Commission)

The $117 million makeover of the 71/91 interchange in west Corona might be finally built. Friday rush hour traffic streaks along the eastbound 91, horizontal center. The curved northbound 71 entrance from the 91 intersects on April 13, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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Friday rush hour traffic along the eastbound 91 exits to the northbound 71 on April 13, 2018. The $117 million makeover of the 71/91 interchange in west Corona might be finally built. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Traffic curves from the eastbound 91 exit ramp to the northbound 71 on April 13, 2018. The $117 million makeover of the 71/91 interchange in west Corona might be finally built. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

The $117 million makeover of the 71/91 interchange in west Corona might be finally built. Friday evening traffic along the eastbound 91, horizontal, intersects with the northbound 71 on April 13, 2018. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Friday evening traffic curves along the eastbound 91 exit ramp to the northbound 71 on April 13, 2018. The $117 million makeover of the 71/91 interchange in west Corona might be finally built. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Lari Tonti used to navigate the 71/91 interchange every morning on his way to his sales job in Anaheim. But the Chino Hills man got fed up with the incessant backups and delays.

“I quit going through there,” he said. “I take Carbon Canyon (Road).”

Tonti and other Orange County-bound commuters may soon benefit from a long-promised-and-postponed makeover of the 71/91 interchange that finally may be built.

A regional agency that plans and builds freeways requested state funds to cover most of the $117 million cost, and the California Transportation Commission could approve the request in May. Riverside County officials proposed putting up $23.4 million, or 20 percent of the price tag.

If backers succeed in placing a repeal measure on the November ballot and California voters dump the tax, the 71/91 funding would evaporate.

On the other hand, the tax may answer the elusive question, Where will the money come from?

“If SB1 is upheld, we think that funding will be there,” said John Standiford, deputy executive director for the Riverside County Transportation Commission. “And it’s just a matter of having that project shovel ready and ready to go to construction.”

To that end, the commission on Wednesday, April 11, approved spending $3.93 million to freshen up an environmental report, which must be done before construction can start.

Parsons Transportation Group did an environmental analysis in June 2011, then updated it in November 2014, a commission report states. Because of the time that has elapsed, officials say the analysis needs to be updated again.

As for the project, the centerpiece is a new sweeping, multi-lane flyover ramp that would connect the eastbound 91 Freeway with the northbound 71 Freeway. And it would reconfigure the eastbound 91 ramp between Green River Road and the 71/91, the report states.

The remake would follow closely on the heels of the $1.4 billion widening of 91 and construction of new toll lanes in Corona that ended in spring 2017.

“At one point it was part of our 91 project,” Standiford said of the interchange. “But the recession hit and we had to somewhat scale down our project a number of years ago.”

The reason for the project didn’t go away. On the contrary, as the Chino Hills area has continued to grow, the need for a reconstruction has risen, Standiford said.

“Although the 91 widening has helped, there still tends to be a backup as everybody tries to go north on the 71,” he said. “That’s where you would see a significant improvement.”

Northbound commuters must negotiate a tight hairpin-curve turn and that slowdown compounds the backup on the eastbound 91.

If the state commission funds the interchange, and if the gas tax survives, Standiford said construction could start in 2019 and take about two years.

If the tax were to survive, but the project were to miss out in the May allocations, there’s a good chance the 71/91 would be awarded money from another state program tied to SB1, he said.

“Anything that can be done to improve it is definitely needed,” Wentworth said. “That whole corridor needs serious attention. That flyover has got to help.”

Wes Speake, a Corona City Council candidate and advocate for transportation fixes, said the interchange badly needs a remake.

“It’s a remnant left over from (decades past), when only a few people had to go north and there was no need for a high-speed northbound transition,” Speake said.

He said the project should ease the eastbound evening commute.

“However, it will be perceived as a slap in the face of Coronans that continue to be tormented by the monster backups on Green River Road in the mornings, if it’s done before improvements are completed on the westbound 91 at Green River,” he said.

Tonti, the salesman who commutes to Anaheim, is skeptical that the project will make things better for those traveling between the west end of San Bernardino County and Orange County.

“It sounds good on paper,” said Tonti, who has lived in Chino Hills since 1981. “But what they’re proposing right now is already obsolete.”

“No matter what they do — they could put in five lanes — it’s still not going to be enough. There is just too much volume going through there,” he said.

Like Tonti, Mark Gluba purposely avoids the 71/91 as he travels from his Norco home to Pomona, where he serves as deputy city manager.

“I imagine it could help,” Gluba said. “But I’m also not optimistic that anything can help the 91.”

Dave is a general assignment reporter based in Riverside, writing about a wide variety of topics ranging from drones and El Nino to trains and wildfires. He has worked for five newspapers in four states: Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and California. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Colorado State University in 1981. Loves hiking, tennis, baseball, the beach, the Lakers and golden retrievers. He is from the Denver area.